The Buzz

Ski mountaineering just made its Olympic debut at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games, the first new sport added to the Winter Olympics since 2002. Nikki LaRochelle, former U.S. Ski Mountaineering National Team member and color commentator for Olympic Broadcasting Services, joins the show live from Milan to break down everything that happened.
The headline for trail and ultrarunners: mountain runners Cam Smith and Anna Gibson placed fourth in the mixed relay, finishing ahead of Italy, Austria, and Germany. Gibson picked up the sport less than a year ago and delivered a masterclass in pacing that stunned even seasoned observers. France took gold, Switzerland silver, and Spain bronze, capping a historic week for Oriol Cardona Coll, who won the first-ever Olympic gold in men's skimo, Spain's first Winter Olympic gold since 1972.
Buzz and Nikki also discuss what Alysa Liu's joyful figure skating gold can teach endurance athletes about reframing pressure, how skimo landed with the broader public, and whether trail running could one day join the Games.

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Max King might be the most versatile distance runner on the planet. A World Mountain Running champion, a 100K road world champion, a Mount Marathon winner, a top finisher at Comrades and Sierre-Zinal, the range is almost absurd. But when Buzz sits down with Max, the thread running through all of it isn't ambition or optimization. It's fun. After burning out post-college and stepping away from the sport for two years, Max made a pact with himself: keep running only as long as it stays enjoyable. 
Three decades later, that philosophy has carried him from obstacle courses to Welsh castles, from the track to the trails of southern China. In this conversation, Max and Buzz dig into what it actually looks like to maintain elite fitness across wildly different disciplines without specializing, how Max taught himself to climb like a European mountain runner after finishing 81st at his first Sierre-Zinal, and why the motivation to grind through big training blocks shifts as you age. Max talks honestly about what slowing down feels like at 46, the surprising role collagen and creatine have played in his recovery, and why he's now chasing bucket-list races like the Dipsea over podium finishes at marquee ultras.
The two close with a reflection on the growth of trail running worldwide, from local hundred-person races with hand timing and burritos to 5,000-person events in China, and why Max believes the soul of the sport will survive the spectacle.

The 44th annual Ultrarunner of the Year Awards are in, and this year delivered one of the deepest fields of women's performances in the history of the award. Buzz Burrell talks with John "Tropical John" Medinger, who has administered the vote when he took over Ultrarunning Magazine (sold in 2024 to Jamil Coury), about the full results, the voting process, and what made 2025 such a standout year. Katie Schide won North American Female Ultrarunner of the Year after victories at Hard Rock (course record), the World Long Trail Championship, and Madeira. Jim Walmsley took the men's title with four wins, including Chianti Castles, where he beat Kilian Jornet. Meg Eckert's 603-mile six-day world record earned Performance of the Year for women, while Charlie Lawrence's 6:07:10 100K on the track (sub-six-minute pace) took the men's honors.
John and Buzz discuss how the voting works, why Western States results carry so much weight, the new World Ultrarunner of the Year category, and the endless debate of comparing trail times to track performances. They also touch on Courtney Dauwalter's challenging year, the case for Ann Flower and Caleb Olson, and why some impressive performances still fall short of the top 10. 
TIMESTAMPS:
 :00 Intro
1:40 Meet John Medinger
3:08 How the Ultrarunner of the Year Award works
10:04 Top 3 Female Ultrarunners of 2025
14:23 Katie Schide's dominant year 
17:00 Top 3 Male Ultrarunners of 2025
21:00 Jim Walmsley's undefeated season 
27:42 Performance of the Year: Meg Eckert's 603 miles
33:07 Why track performances won this year
42:11 World Ultrarunner of the Year results 46:58 Controversies and debates
52:16 The future of the award

Ski mountaineering is about to have its moment, and if you're a trail runner, you should be paying attention. Skimo shares DNA with our sport: the relentless uphill effort, the technical descents, the mountain culture, and a surprising number of athletes who race both. After decades as a European-dominated discipline, skimo makes its Olympic debut at the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.
Nikki LaRochelle joins Buzz to break down what skimo is and why trail runners should care. A longtime skimo racer and ultrarunner, with finishes at San Juan Solstice 50 and Canyon de Chelly, Nikki famously Photoshopped herself into a broadcast booth four years ago, manifesting a future she wasn't sure she'd ever reach. This February, she'll be the technical commentator for the Olympic Broadcasting System. She walks listeners through what makes skimo racing so tactically complex: the transitions, the boot packs, the skinning, and the descents that punish any lapse in focus.
Then Cam Smith, one half of Team USA's mixed relay duo alongside Anna Gibson, shares what it's like to prepare for the biggest stage in sport. At the Solitude World Cup, Cam and Anna jumped from ranked 13th to first, proving they can compete with anyone on their best day. Cam talks about the mental game, the preparation heading into Italy, and chasing the first-ever Olympic medals in skimo history. Buzz floats the idea that they could be the first trail runners to compete in an Olympic Games.
The sprint is February 19th, the mixed relay February 21st. This is your primer on a sport that shares more with trail running than you might think.

Buzz previews 2026 with Zoë Rom, coach Scott Johnston, Western States Race Director Craig Thornley, and Allison Mercer of FastestKnownTime.com.
The panel digs into the Courtney DauWalter, Tara Dower, Katie Scheide showdown at Hardrock 100 and what the growing competitive depth in women's ultrarunning actually tells us (spoiler: progress is real, but parity isn't here yet). Scott Johnston makes the case for AI and data analysis in elite pacing—and explains why it all goes out the window by mile 80. Craig Thornley shares updates on Western States' multi-year Granite Chief Wilderness trail reroute and weighs in on whether rising prize purses at Broken Arrow and Gorge Waterfalls signal a real shift in how the sport operates.
The conversation spans the backyard ultra phenomenon, crossover athletes moving between road and trail, and the grassroots running boom powering the whole thing from below. Zoë asks the pointed question: does ultrarunning have a pipeline for its next generation of stars, or are we five retirements away from a charisma crisis? And what would it take for athletes and media to stop producing what she calls "room temperature vanilla ice cream" content?